An original route for the connector trail would have bisected the Triick’s 40-acre beef cattle feeding operation, disrupting cattle and they say endangering their business.

Ottawa County Planning Director Mark Knudsen, without disclosing details, said Ottawa County and the DNR have reached an agreement on a land swap under which the Triicks would buy land to trade with the state, allowing the alternative route.

But Ottawa officials don’t see why Kent County seems to be fast-tracking the project and not giving them time to accomplish the necessary deals to make the alternate route work.

Jon Rice, managing director of the Kent County Road Commission, said his agency fears with Congress in a cost-cutting mood, the $2.1 million in federal highway money for constructing the project could disappear unless the job is bid by this summer.

For the Triicks, the matter has been a bureaucratic nightmare.

“I always thought our problem was with the DNR, but apparently it’s with the Kent County Road Commission,” Chris Triick said.

At the urging of Kent County Commissioner Stan Ponstein, R-Grandville, the Triicks met with a group of Kent County officials after Thursday’s county board meeting and came out feeling optimistic a solution was near at hand — at least until Ottawa County officials again chimed in.

“The Kent County Road Commission and Parks Department have been stone walling us in preventing us from reaching a solution,” Knudsen said later Thursday. “They are hell-bent on moving this forward without making an honest effort to resolve the situation.”

Rice said his agency has been painted as the bad guy, despite merely doing what state and Kent County officials have asked. He said the road commission is merely a design consultant for the project, engineering a pathway on a route identified by the DNR and Kent County Parks Department.

Rice said his instructions from the DNR are to put the first phase of the project out for bid with the understanding that if Ottawa County pulls together deals allowing the alternate route, that will be incorporated into the project. He said Ottawa County needs to get things straight with the DNR.

“They need to resolve their issues with the DNR and the DNR has to tell us that,” Rice said. ”Ottawa County has to understand that. We don’t have any contract with Ottawa County.”

So, why don’t the two counties pick up the phone and talk to each other and resolve the matter?

“That would be like undercutting my client,” Rice said.

That leaves the Triicks preparing for the best while realizing things could go the other way. They’re readying to buy the land they’ll need to swap with the state in case the deal for the alternate route is ultimately approved.